What is your teaching philosophy?

My teaching philosophy is: hard work leads to success and practice makes perfect.

What might you do in a typical first session with a student?

I will give my student a diagnostic test in order to gauge where he/she needs the most help; this will provide me with valuable information, such as where he/she is strongest and what areas I need to focus on.

How can you help a student become an independent learner?

I will provide the student with the knowledge and skills to think through problems; I will not just help him/her through a problem. I ensure that he/she understands how to think logically and efficiently about finding the solution.

How would you help a student stay motivated?

I encourage my student's learning and studying by developing a strong rapport. Students will be motivated by their success, and I revel in their success, which stimulates their own excitement. In short, when I get excited by their improvement, so will they.

If a student has difficulty learning a skill or concept, what would you do?

I attempt to restructure the concept in a different fashion by giving other examples, using different modalities to learn and by explaining it in other ways to help them think about it in a way that works for them.

What strategies have you found to be most successful when you start to work with a student?

I found that building rapport, forming a connection with my students, is most important when starting with a new student. I really try to understand where my student is struggling and what areas of the subject I need to focus on.

How would you help a student get excited/engaged with a subject that they are struggling in?

I enjoy learning, and I revel in my student's success. So, when my student starts to grasp a concept or solves a difficult problem, I share my excitement with him/her. I try to show them how fun it is to be able to solve problems by relating them to real-world situations.

What techniques would you use to be sure that a student understands the material?

I give my student more difficult problems to solve in order to test their knowledge of the concepts.

How do you build a student's confidence in a subject?

By providing emotional support and sharing my excitement with my student, I am able to boost their confidence in a subject.